November 30 marked the commemoration of the exodus of Jews from Arab countries, one of the larger humanitarian crises of the 20th century – all the more tragic for how little recognition it elicits today. And by exodus, I mean the ethnic cleansing of Jews. An actual one, where nearly a million people, from Afghanistan to Iran, including communities that predated the birth of Islam and the Arab conquests of the Middle East and North Africa, were forcibly evicted from their homes and countries.
Having failed to destroy the new State of Israel in 1948, Arab rulers took revenge on their Jewish citizens. These Jews were pushed out via legal measures, property confiscation and, in many cases, violence. Alongside revenge, there was also a fear that, inspired by their fellow Jews fighting for their liberation and independence in their historic homeland, the Jews may no longer be willing to accept their subservient role in Arab society as Dhimmis and begin to imagine themselves as equals of Arabs and Muslims.
In almost all cases, Jews were kicked out in the name of “anti-Zionism”, claiming that Arabs and Muslims have nothing against Jews, only Zionists. Unsurprisingly, as soon as anti-Zionism took over as the structural ideology of those countries and societies, the environment became dangerously hostile to Jews and, within a few years, there were no Jews left (the result of anti-Zionism).
What was the difference between the European genocide of Jews and the Arab/Muslim ethnic cleansing of their Jews? The existence of the State of Israel! Israel opened her borders to all those Jews ethnically cleansed from their homes, giving them a new home within Israel. They did not turn their suffering into a founding ethos but concentrated on rebuilding their lives.
The Palestinians, by contrast, preferred bleeding to rehabilitation. Every year on November 29, the Palestinians mark the “nakba” (catastrophe) that befell them with the establishment of the State of Israel. Where those who left under instruction of the invading Arab armies to enable an easier victory (~650,000), found themselves displaced when the attackers lost. At war’s end, the displaced dispersed to the neighbouring Arab countries, where they have since languished as a political spectacle, aided by UNRWA. As an example, Palestinians in Lebanon face legal discrimination as they are barred from working in certain professions, are unable to own property and have no chance of naturalising – real apartheid in the region.
The ‘nakba’ is the centre of the Palestinians’ backward-looking national narrative, whereby the creation of the State of Israel is seen as the original sin. Every year, the legend of the ‘crimes’ committed against the Arabs in 1948 grows, to the point where it is now routinely equated with the Shoah. The only just compensation, according to them, is a return to 1948 and the dissolution of the “Zionist hegemony”, replacing it with a single, secular, democratic state shared by Arabs and Jews alike (at the most generous level) or, more likely, replacing Israel with yet another Islamist nation. All refugees – not just those still alive, but all of their descendants – would be entitled to return. This would result in the end of the only Jewish state. As such, this radical historical distortion seems to preclude any chance of peace in the Middle East.
An industry based on lies has sprung up around the Palestinian cause, creating and magnifying the myth of the nakba and turning it into the ultimate crime. It has distorted the historical record and become a blocker to reconciliation.
The Arab and Muslim nations of the Middle East and North Africa scored an own goal when they ethnically cleansed Jews from their countries. In doing so, they not only undermined any claim that their problem was only with Zionists (as opposed to Jews in general), and that Jews can live freely and safely as a minority among Arabs, but they also deprived both Arab and Muslim societies of loyal, hard-working and productive members. The culmination of this resulted in the strengthening of the fledgling State of Israel, providing not only skilled people, but also a people with nothing left to lose.
The roughly 850,000 Jewish refugees, however, were absorbed into the State of Israel, becoming Israelis. To this day, they remain largely unrecognised and have never been compensated for their suffering or stolen property.
It is time for this to change. Without recognition of the Jewish refugees, there can be no mutual recognition of shared suffering. And, therefore, no chance of peace. The Jewish refugees should not have to forgo their rights and grievances while the Palestinians demand the same.
This means that UNRWA (the UN agency created specifically to deal with Palestinian refugees, and which uses a unique definition of ‘refugee’), needs to be dissolved. Not only are they a block to peace, but also facilitate and support terrorism and teach hate.
